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Sunday, February 15, 2009

US Missile Strike Kills 25 Militants in Pakistan

15/02/2009 | Almanartv A U.S. missile attack killed at least 25 al Qaeda-linked militants in a Pakistani tribal region on Saturday, security and Taliban officials said, the highest death toll of militants in a single such strike. The strike by pilotless drones in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border was the third such attack since U.S. President Barack Obama took office last month and could ignite fresh popular anger in Pakistan over the cross-border raids from Afghanistan. The Taliban official said those killed were mostly Uzbek fighters. "Our people have informed us that at least 25 people were killed. It could be more," the official told Reuters. A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said 25 to 30 people were killed. A senior security official said there appeared to be no senior al Qaeda figure among the dead. Missiles hit a sprawling house used by the militants as a training camp in the Zangari area in the South Waziristan region. "Around 50 to 60 mujahideen have been living there for about a week. All of them were Uzbeks," the Taliban official added. Intelligence officials confirmed the incident. The Taliban official said the militants had set up tents in the lawns of the fortress-like house and were undergoing training there when the missiles hit.

The militants have cordoned off the area and no one was allowed near the site of the strike, an intelligence official said. U.S. drones carried out about 30 missile attacks in 2008, according to a Reuters tally, more than half after the beginning of September. The attacks killed more than 220 people, according to a tally of reports from Pakistani intelligence agents, district government officials and residents.